Harnessing Social Learning to Improve Employee Performance

on April 09 2013.

Harnessing Social Learning to Improve Employee Performance

More so than ever, institutions need to respond fast to market fluctuations and in order to do so, their workforce needs to be agile. To develop an agile workforce, employees need to learn in real-time – not just on the rare occasion they are participating in a formal training opportunity. Social learning empowers employees to find information or learn new skills when and where they need them. Additionally, it enhances formal training through collaborative, post-training interaction that can deepen employees’ understanding of topics addressed in formal courses. What is meant by social learning?

Social learning is simply participating with others to make sense of new ideas. For example, when a group of instructors casually gathers in their faculty lounge and an impromptu discussion begins on how to effectively use technology in the classroom, the dialogue and social interaction among the group is an example of real-time, social learning. These interactions take place every day by default or design and contribute to employee development and performance. The problem is that many institutions do no harness this existing form of learning already taking place within their institution. It is ironic that many career colleges are trying to harness social learning in the classroom using web 2.0 technologies to enhance student learning but are not doing the same for their faculty and staff. If social learning can improve collaboration, engagement, learning, and performance for students, why wouldn’t it do the same for faculty and staff?

Interested in harnessing the benefits of social learning? Learn more about The Career College Lounge, the only social learning space dedicated to the career education community.